Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations

In-Network Access To Specialists Not Always Available On Some Obamacare Plans, Study Says

New research finds that 19 of the 135 federal marketplace plans available may not provide patients with reasonable access to medical specialists. The most common specialties missing were psychiatry, rheumatology and endocrinology.

NPR:
Some Health Plans Have No In-Network Doctors In Key Specialties
Say you bought health insurance through the federal health exchange, paid the premiums and followed the rules. And then say you start having pain in your hands. Your doctor refers you to a rheumatologist to test for arthritis. But when you search for the specialist, there isn't one there. That happens more often than you'd think. In fact, as many as 14 percent of health plans sold on the federal government's insurance exchange are missing doctors in at least one common specialty from their networks, according to a study published Tuesday in JAMA, the journal of the American Medical Association, by researchers at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health. (Kodjak, 10/27)

Reuters:
Specialized Healthcare May Be Lacking Under Obamacare Plans
Some health insurance plans sold on the Affordable Care Act's federal marketplace may not provide reasonable access to medical specialists, new research suggests. Under the act, also known as Obamacare, the federal marketplace offers subsidized private health insurance to consumers in states that didn't establish their own health insurance exchanges. About one in seven health insurance plans offered on the federal marketplace in 2015 did not provide access to in-network doctors for at least one medical specialty, researchers found. (Seaman, 10/27)

Also, a report that some newly insured are dropping coverage while more women are gaining it -

Reuters:
HCA Says Some Patients Dropping Their New Insurance Coverage
Hospital operator HCA Holdings Inc on Tuesday said more patients are coming through its doors who have lost their health insurance, most likely because they stopped paying for it. The largest U.S. for-profit hospital chain said it admitted more uninsured patients in the third quarter who had previously registered with health insurance, compared with a year ago. They included people who bought coverage from marketplaces set up under President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act, but then dropped it. (Kelly, 10/27)

Kaiser Health News:
Health Law Increases Coverage Rates For Women Not Yet Pregnant
The Affordable Care Act brought health insurance to 5.5 million women over the past two years, but many women still tell of unmet health care needs that could pose risks for them or future pregnancies, a new report finds. Researchers from the Urban Institute and the March of Dimes Foundation underscored the ACA’s long-term potential to improve health care for women in their child-bearing years, 18 to 44. The report was released Tuesday. (Gillespie, 10/27)

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